Whether the Beast from the East is the culprit it’ll be hard to say but knowing how long it takes for these magnificent little creatures to reach the point where they are ready for harvest would suggest this phenomenon hasn’t magically manifested itself in the last three months.

I’d suggest you look back in time to the period when our local mussel stocks collapsed about four years ago — around the time our disappearing crabs were just a twinkle in their daddy’s eyes.

This could be another terrible marker indicating the utter devastation to our coastline brought about by the advent and ongoing problems caused by the offshore wind farms and the dredging of Wells harbour to allow their service boats a place to anchor up.

Enough people will tell you the same story.

It’s time someone asked some hard questions of those involved in what increasingly looks like a marine holocaust to many of us.

STEVE MACKINDER

Sluice Road, Denver

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